His Holiness Completes Ninth Australian Tour

DHARMA AND THE MODERN WORLD

October-December 2013

His Holiness going through the teaching text Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta by Khunu Rinpoche, Sydney, Australia, 2013. Photo courtesy of DLIA.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s [four-city] tour of Australia went very well and very smoothly,” reported Tony Steel, director of Vajrayana Institute, the FPMT center in Ashfield, New South Wales, which organized the “Young Minds” and “Happiness & Its Causes” conferences with His Holiness in Sydney and Melbourne, respectively. “His Holiness seemed pleased with the tour and appeared to be well and energetic. At the end of the tour, we requested His Holiness to return. He agreed to come back to Australia in June 2015 to give Gyalwa Gyatso initiation and commentary on the five stages of Guhyasamaja.”

Sally Dudgeon, who was closely involved with His Holiness’ most recent visit to Australia, shared more details about the successful visit:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama completed his ninth visit to Australia June 13-23, 2013. The tour’s theme was “Beyond Religion, the 14th Dalai Lama on the Benefits of Living Ethically.”

During the 10-day visit, His Holiness traveled to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and, for the first time, Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory. He was warmly welcomed everywhere and particularly in Darwin, where the Sunday Territorian’s front page read“Dalai Charmer: His Holiness Wins Over Top End Crowds.” It continued, “The Buddhist spiritual leader had a strong message for Territorians: ‘We need to truly consider the oneness of humanity.’”

He spoke about the importance of indigenous and non-indigenous Territorians “living together” to create a happier and more harmonious culture. “Harmony is very possible – this is something that is not impossible,” he told the Darwin media.

His Holiness in an Akubra hat with a wombat, Adelaide, Australia, 2013. Photo courtesy of DLIA.

During June 14-16, His Holiness gave a two-and-a-half-day teaching in Sydney on Jewel Lamp: A Praise of Bodhichitta, a relatively recent text by Khunu Lama [published by Wisdom Publications under the title Vast as the Heavens, Deep as the Sea].

His Holiness gave a sold-out public talk in each of the major cities he visited. The public events throughout the visit carried the message from His Holiness’ recent book, Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World. Auxiliary events with Buddhist communities, the Tibetan community and other partner groups were included in the schedule. His Holiness attended and spoke at the “Young Minds Conference” [attended by 1,700] in Sydney and “Happiness and its Causes Conference” [attended by 1,800] in Melbourne.

In this most recent tour, more than 50,000 people heard His Holiness speak during his 10 days in Australia in the course of 20 events. Of these, 25,000 people heard him speak about compassion, kindness and secular ethics. Almost 10,000 attended Buddhist teachings in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. He met with 2,500 Tibetans, Mongolians, Vietnamese and Chinese people in different parts of the country and online streaming reached a further 100,000.

Event staff at work, Australia 2013. Photo courtesy DLIA.

Dalai Lama in Australia (DLIA), which has managed His Holiness’ last six tours to Australia, is a not-for-profit company formed in 2001 by George Farley and Alan Molloy, both students of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. DLIA’s role is to assist the Tibet Information Office in Canberra to coordinate His Holiness’ tours to Australia. DLIA works out of a small office in Paddington and brings together staff prior to the visit. Lynn Bain, general manager, and the board of DLIA oversee the operations and keep the organization alive between visits.

His Holiness has now visited Australia nine times. Each tour has been of a very different flavor, context and purpose, but all have affected the Australian society in a deep and moving way. In addition the extraordinary success, each tour has helped His Holiness further his own goals of promoting human values, inter-religious harmony and bringing the Tibet issue to public prominence.

Sally Dudgeon is an active member of the international FPMT community.

When others insult, rebuke and speak unpleasant words to us, although an intolerable pain arises like a thorn at the heart, if we comprehend the teachings then we can recognize the essenceless nature of these words which resemble an echo. So just as when an inanimate object is scolded, we will experience not the slightest mental turmoil.